Whittlesford

Whittlesford is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, and also the name of an old hundred. The village is situated on the Granta branch of the River Cam, seven miles south of Cambridge. Whittlesford Parkway railway station serves the village.Listed as Witelesforde in the Domesday Book, the name Whittlesford means "ford of a man called Wittel", indicating the importance of a local ford across the river in the village.HistoryThe parish lies to the west of the River Cam, just to the north of the Icknield Way, an ancient thoroughfare which forms the historic parish boundary on the south. The parish contains 1,976 acres, and the area was occupied in Roman times.A hospital, then a form of almshouse, was founded in the village by Sir William Colville before the time of Edward I, and there are some remains of the original building still standing. Whittlesford was at one stage a market town.Roger Ascham, the tutor of Elizabeth I, lived in Whittlesford, and a road in the village is named after him.ChurchThe first record of the church in Whittlesford dates from 1217, but there has certainly been a church on the present site since at least Norman times. The church has been dedicated to Saint Andrew since medieval times, and from the 16th century the dedication to Saint Mary was added.